HJK Helsinki have a mountain to climb when
they face Panevezys in the Champions League first qualifying round second leg
on Tuesday evening. The visitors won last week’s opening leg 3-0 at Aukstaitija
Stadionas. The winner of this match will face Jagiellonia Białystok in the
second qualifying round.
While HJK Helsinki lost the first leg last
week, the scoreline does not accurately reflect how the game panned out as they
were the superior side across several metrics. Klubi outperformed their
opponents in terms of possession (61%) and attempts on goal (9). Unfortunately,
their finishing was wasteful and ultimately cost them.
Over the last six games in all
competitions, HJK have now won three and lost three. However, their home record
is impressive, unbeaten in their last four and they have only suffered one
defeat in their last 11 games.
Notably, the hosts have only failed to
score in one of their last 15 home games and they will need to keep up that
solid record to overturn this big deficit.
Meanwhile, Panevezys will feel they already
have one foot in the next round after last week’s result. Their 3-0 lead came
courtesy of Ernestas Veliulis, Nicolas Gorobsov and Noel Mbo’s goals despite
being reduced to 10 men in the second half.
The visitors have not been great
domestically this season, though, currently in ninth place. The first-leg
victory also followed back-to-back A Lyga home losses.
On the road, PAN have won only one of their last six matches in all competitions and conceded two or more goals in four of those games, while failing to score in three.
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